Staple



Manual, 1942. :H.'A.' MOE 2,277.931

STAPLE Filed July 3, 1941 I Patented Mar. 31, 1942' I azimar 's'rArLE Herman A. Mob, Warwick, R. I... assignor to Bus ton Wire Stltchcr Company, Warwick, R. 1., a corporation of Maine Application July 3, 1941, Serial No. 4.005944 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to" an improved type of fastener or wire staple adapted to be stacked in compact arrangement, and to the commercial package or refill clip formed by such a stack.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a staple of the type indicated having its legs ofiset intermediate their ends to adapt a series of the staples to be nested in vertical arrangement.

Another object is to provide, a staple of the type indicated with the legs offset a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the wire or other stock to adapt the nested staples to be held together by the frictional engagement of the upper portion of each staple with the outwardly ofiset leg portions of the staple inwhioh it is row of staples in which they are nested.

Another object is to provide a wirestaple of the type indicat which is adapted to be folded at-right-angles substantially midway the length of its legs to provide a head for engaging the work over a relatively large area.

Further objects of the invention'are set forth in the following specification. which describes several forms of the improved staple, by way of example,- as. illustrated by the accompanying drawing. In the drawing:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a stack of nested staples incorporating the novel features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the stack of staples illustrated in Fig. 1 showing the legs of the individual staples as ofiset midway of their length a distance equal to the thickness of the legs to adapt them to bev nested in vertical arrangemen Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on line- 3-;3 of Fig. 2 indicating the frictional engagement of the upper portions of the staples in one row with the outwardly offset leg portions of the staples of the row in which they are nested to adapt therows of staples to be detachably connected to form a self-supported commercial package or refill clip;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of an individual staple shown as driven into the work with its 55 upper portion folded'or bent at right-angles to its lower legs to provide a head for engaging the work over a relatively large bearing area;

Fig. 5 is an end elevational view of a stack of 5 staples of modified construction; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an individual staple illustrated in Fig. 5 shown as driven into the work with its upper portion folded at rightangles to provide wings extending from opposite sides of the plane 'of the staple legs.

It has been a' common practice in the stapling art to attach a number of individual staples in side by side relationship by means of a suitable adhesive to provide a refill stick comprising a single row of staples. It has alsobeen proposed to provide a row of staples formed with divergent legs and nested in vertical arrangement. When the staples of this latter form are stacked vertically in nested arrangement the position of their divergent or outwardly inclined legs results in increasing the width of the stack beyond the width of the staples and requires that the legs be straightened before the staples can be driven.

In accordance with the present invention a gen-- a erally U-shaped wire staple is provided having its legs oflset substantially midway of their length a distance equal to the thickness of the wire or other material of the ,legs to provide an upper crown portion adapted to be nested between the go lower parallel leg portions of another stapler A number of'such staples may be arranged'in side by side relationship'and joined to each other by means of a suitable adhesive or otherwise to provide individual rows or sticks of the staples. 5 The individual rows or sticks of staples as thus formed will have an upper channel-shaped portion with depending flanges laterally offset at either side thereof. The rows or sticks of staples assembled as explained may be nested one within 40 another by inserting the narrow channel-shaped portion of one row between the offset flanges of an adjacent row to provide astack comprising any desired number of rows of nested staples having substantially parallel sides. Due to the frictional engagement of the outwardly offset flanges of each row of staples with the narrower channelshaped portion of the adjacent row the several 1 rows or sticks are detachably held together to provide aself-supported commercial package or 5 refill clip adapted to be inserted as a unit into the magazine of a suitable fastener-applying implement. Y

Referring to the drawing, the invention is shown as appliedto a novel form of wire staple S for attaching roofing strips, shingles, siding or similar materials to buildings or for like purposes. As herein illustrated the staple S is formed from fiat wire stock bent to generally U-shape to provide a crossbar C and depending legs L. The crown or crossbar C in the embodiment illustrated in Figs 1 to 4 of the drawing is of V-shape but it may be made straight, circular or of any other suitable contour. The lower end portions 2 and 3 of the legs L are offset outwardly a distance equal to the thickness of the wire or other stock from which the staple is formed as indicated by the reference characters 4 and 5. Thus, each staple S has upper parallel portions Band I connected by the crossbar C and lower offset parallel portions 2 and 3, -see Fig. 2. Due tothe offsetting of the lower parallel portions 2 and 3 a distance equal to the thickness of the wire or other stock the upper parallel portions 6 and I of one staple are adapted to be nested within the lower parallel end portions 2 and 3 of another staple as illustrated in Fig. 2.

The staples S are preferably arranged in adjacent side by side relationship and joined to each other by a suitable adhesive or other means to provide rows or sticks R having the same crosssectional shape as the individual staples. In other words, each row or stick R has an upper channel-shaped portion with laterally offset depending fianges at either side thereof. The rows or sticks R of the staples S are adapted to be nested one within another by inserting the narrow channel-shaped portion of one row between the depending laterally offset flanges of another row in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1 to form a stack. Due to. the resiliency of the wire or other stock the frictional engagement between the depending flanges formed by the offset lower portions 2 and 3 of the individualstaple legs L with the channel-shaped portion formed by the upper portions 6 and l of another row the plurality of rows are detachably held. together to provide a self-sustained package P. Furthermore the depending parallel flanges of each row R formed by the offset leg portions 2 and 3 of the individual staples S aline with the flanges of the other rows in the package P to provide substantially continuous flat sides.

As stated above, the particular type of staple S illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing is adapted for attaching roofing and similar materials to buildings. Heretofore it has been a common practice to attach waterproof paper, sheet roofing or siding, shingles and the like to legs L.

buildings by means of roofing nails having relatively large heads for engaging the materials over an extended area. To facilitate the application of such materials it has heretofore been proposed to attach the same by means of U-shaped wire staples driven by a hammer-tacker which automatically feeds the staples into position to be driven. The crossbars or heads of such wire staples, however, are liable to cut through the material either when driven or thereafter as they fail to provide a sufficiently large area of contact with the work.

As provided by the present improved form of staple the upper portions 6 and I and crossbar C of the staple S illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing constitute a crown or head adapted to be folded or bent at right-angles to the lower leg portions 2 and 3, see Fig. 4. The lower leg portions 2 and 3 are driven through the roofing or siding materialrand into the roof or like structure and the crown or head is folded at right-angles thereto to provide a relatively large bearing area for engagement with the material. The folding or bending of the crown of the staple may be accomplished simultaneously with the driving of the staple into the work. Furthermore, the offset lower portions 2 and 3 of the legs L of the staples are adapted to be guided in suitable guideways in the tacker or other implement as they are driven thereby while permitting the upper portions 6 and l and crossbar C to be folded outwardly between the'guideways at right-angles to the lower leg portions with the folding operation performed automatically.

Fig. 5 illustrates a staple S of modified form having a crossbar C of V-shape and depending legs L. The legs L of the staple S are offset at I0 and II in the same manner as previously described and illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 to adapt the staples to be nested one within another to detachably connect a plurality of rows in a stack. The V-shaped crossbar C of each staple S is of increased length extending downwardly a distance substantially equal to the full length of the In other words, the V shaped crossbar C is in the form of a loop I2 depending from the upper loops I3 and I4 some distance below the offset in the legs L. When the head or crown C of the staple S is folded at right-angles to the lower leg portions 2 and 3 a larger bearing surface is provided for engagement with the work on opposite sides of the staple legs, see Fig. 6.

While the improved staple is shown in the present drawing for purposes of illustration as adapted for use with roofing and like materials, it is to be understood that the offsetting of the staple legs'a distance equal tothe thickness of the wire stock may be applied to any and all types of staples to adapt them to be nested and stacked to form self-sustained commercial packages or refill clips. For example, the upper le portions and crossbar may take any appropriate shape in accordance with the form of the particular articles to be attached, such as wires, cables and the like or bottles and other merchantable objects attached to display cards. The improved staple likewise may have a straight crossbar for use in the usual manner and in such case both its leg portions can be driven into the work with the offset bends acting to mor firmly bind the legs in the work.

It will be observed from the foregoing specification that the present invention provides a novel form of staple adapted to be joined to staples of similar shape in side by side relationship to provide sticks or rows and the rows nested one within another in vertical arrangement and de tachably connected to each other by frictional engagement to provide a commercial package or refill clip for stapling implements.

While several forms of the improved staple incorporating the novel features of the present invention are herein shown and described, it is' to be understood that modifications may be made in the shape and construction of the staple without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, without limiting myself in this respect, I claim:

1. A substantially J-shaped staple having a crossbar and depending legs with the lower portions of the legs offset outwardly a distance equal to the thickness of the material of the legs.

2. A substantially U-shaped wire staple having an irregularly shaped crossbar and depending legs" with the lower-portions of the legs offset outwardly a distance equal to the thickness of the material of the legs to adapt a series of the staples to; be nested one within another.

3. A U-shaped staple having a crossbar and depending legs with the legs offset .outwardly toward their ends a distance equal to the thickness of the materialof the legs to provide upper and thefrictlonal engagement of the upper portion or one staple with the offset leg portions of the staple in which it is nested.

5. .A commercial package or refill clip of staples, each staple having a crossbar and depending legs offset outwardly substantially midway of their length a distance equal to the thickness of the material of the legs, said staples being joined to each'other in side by side relationship by an adhesive to provide a series of rows, and the rows of connected staples nested one. within another and held together by the frictional engagement of the upper portion of one row with the offset leg portions ofthe row in which it is nested.

6. A- commercial package or refill clip of staples, each staple having an irregular-shaped crossbar and depending legs with the lower portions of the legs offset outwardly a distance equal to the thickness of the material of the legs, said staples being joined to each other in side by side relationship by an adhesive to provide a series of rows of staples having narrow upper channels and lower oiiset figiges, and the narrow channel portion of one row nested in the depending flanges of anadjacent row and detachably connected thereto by the frictional engagement of the flanges with the narrower portions.

7. A U-shapedwire staple having a crossbar and depending legs with the legs offset substantially midway of their length a distance equal to .the thickness of the material ofthe legs to provide lower leg portions adapted to be driven into the work and an upper portion adapted to be.

folded at right-angles to the lower leg portions. 8. A substantially U-shaped wire staple having acrossbar and depending leg's, the lower leg-por DISCLAIMER 2,277,931.--Herman A. Moe; Warwick, -R. I. STAPLE. Patent dated March 31, -1942. Disclaimer filed December 7,1944, by the assignee, Boston Wire Stitcher Company. a Hereby enters this disclaimer to claims 1, 3, and 4 of said patent.

:[Ofieial Gazette January 16, 1945.] 

